Humidifier



May 3, 1927, 1,626,667

S. W. CRAMER ET AL HUMIDIFIER I Original Filed Dec. 17,1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MTN E55 INVENTORS 672/497 11 CHM/15f? I v 'V u AMB- H0065 5 Emu Patented May 1 5 V UNITED STATES srirAR'r w. ORAMER, or'oRAMERron; Ann WILLIAM B. Hones, or Oimnmmrn; NORTH CAROLINA, ASsIoNOns, BY manor ANDJMESNE' ASSIGNMENTS; To WM. B.

YHODGE COMPANY; or y CAROLINA.

.Original application filed December 17, 1924; Serial No756,421. Divided and this October 27, 1925.

JThis invention relates toa humidifierand,:

" more particularly, to a humidifier of the large capacity, centrifugal, type for creating and distributing a mist ofwater and thus increasing the content of water vapor, n the atn'iosphere about the humidifier.

This application is a division of our applicationSerial No.- -75(i,421 filed December.

One of the objects of our'presentdnven tion. to pro vide a simple and effective hu inidifying apparatusin which thetendency of the water particles or dropletsinthe mist to fall or settle out of the draught of air of air are eliminated or prevented from being carried into the atmosphere, and ar the same timeto insure-the suspension and rapid distrihut-ion'of the particles to enable them to he completely evaporated :while in,

suspension. 8

A still further ob ect ofthe lIlVGDtIOn is to provide a humidifier 0t the. type outlined i 1 above in which the elements ror vloiming,

water into mist, removing the larger particles and suspending and distribut ng the mist ofsmaller particles are of a compact construction and of a minimum of parts.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention comprises the apparatus described andset forth in the following specification and claims. 1 I I The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

in which I Fig. '1 is an elevation; partly in section, of

a humidifier embodying our. invention. I Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the hygrostat and co-operatingelements;for opening and closing the valve. H p

i Fig. 2 is a fragmentarydetail. of aform of hygrostat. p V v Fig. 3 is an elevatlon of the hygrostat element.

Fig; 4 is a fragmentary view showing the mechanism for manual valve achustment. I In our present invention, aidraught of air j CHARLOTTE, NORTHOAROLINA, A CORPORATION OF-NORTH application filed Serial No. 65,102."

is created to move downwardly in a substantiallyvertical direction andis then deflected and spread radially outwardly in asubstantially flat, spreading stream. A mist of water particles small enough to readily float 1n the spreadlng draught of air until comd pletely evaporated isformedin a relatively quiescentbody of air, and then centrifugally thrown: into the draught of air above'mentioned, and this mist is, thus difl'used throughout the surrounding atmosphere;

' To form this mist, a stream or film of water is drawn by centrifugal. force from a supply container and led'upwardly on both surfaces of therapidly rotating collecting element, which dips into said supply container, to the under surface of a'rotatingplate which rotates at the same speed as the collecting elementgllhis stream or film of water is thrown outwardly along the surface of the disc by centrifugal actionend projected first agai'nst. the inner surface-of a peripheral bevel inthe disc which results'in the break ing up ofthe larger particles of water thus forming a fine mist. i The water is then thrown from. the. edge of the disc or plate as a fine mistagainst a stationary receiving surface on which the larger particles are re tained or are broken" up into smaller particlesythe smaller particles being thrown into suspension in the adjacent, relatively quiescent air,lfrom which the larger particles readily. settle or drop down.wardly.- The 1 larger particles thus settle out and are caught onthe retaining surface, whicliis preferably corrugated and are then received on. a surface which converges downwardly and leads into the supply container; To"

more effectively break up the stream of water as above desc-ribedas it is projectedv or thrown from the rotating plate, the edge of the said plate is preferably sharply bent downwardly towards. the corrugated drop receiving surface.

\ The air that is the fan and is deflected wardly carries the fine spray of mist, which blown downwardly from I radially out has been thrown by centrifugalforce to meet it,- outwardflinto the surroundingatmosphere "and is thus evaporated and the atmosphere humidified. At the same time] the heav draught downwardly tendsto drive many of the heavy particlesiof water against the pan so that they return into the supply tank but the mist is carried readily away into the surrouncing atmosphere thus humidifying the same.

Referring more particularly to the accompanving drawings, a supply of water to be broken into a mist and distributed through out an atmosphere to be humidified is contained in a supply container having an upwardly and outwardly flaring side wall 1: A stream of water is drawn by cenaction ui iwardly from the central of the cont-r er 10 by means of a inverted, frusto-couical member 1 1 5 from a horizontal rotatable plate 1 it; and dipping into the body of in lhe container 10. As the plate 16 rapidly rotated, the stream of water is drawn upwardly over its inner and outer surface, as indicated by the broken line arrows, to the under surface of the plate 16 and is then thrown outwardly along the undcrsurface of the plate. Openings 18 are provided in the upper edge or base of .he member 11 to permit the water on the inner surface of the member to reach the under surface of the plate. As the outwardly moving sheet or stream of water reaches the outer portion of the plate 16, it is deflected sharply downwardly by a downwardly turned rim or edge portion 20 and thrown against' a corrugated surface 22 on the inner surface of the outwardly flaring wall 12 of the container 10. 'lhe downturned edge 20 not only serves to give the water a clownward velocity at right angles to the plate 22, but as the water reaches the edge portion 20 it is flattened to a thin sheet or spread out in a thin film by the component of the centrifugal pressure acting normal to the surface of this portion. As the water strikes the downwardly turned rim or edge portion 20 and is thus deflected and thrown from the edge of the disc, it is broken up into small particles and then it is projected against the corrugated surface 22. As a result of this centrifugal action and the consequent breaking up of the sheet or stream of water, a mistof fine particles or droplets is formed in the atmosphere in the space 23 about or above the corrugated surface 22. Any larger particles thrown against this surface which are too heavy to remain in suspension for a sufficient time to entirely evaporate, readily settle out of the mist onto the surface 12 and flow back into the container 10. The remaining mist, however, which is actually being thrown centrifugally outward, is taken up and carried in suspension by the outwardly spreading draught of air 19 which has been created by the propeller 15 and this mist is thus permitted to evaporate in the surrounding atmosphere to effect the desired resul of humidifying the same.

The plate 16 and member 1 1 may be supported and rotated in any suitable manner. shown in the drawings the plate 16 is supported on the lower end of the shaft 9A which extends from a driving motor 26 i above the container 10. The shaft d at its lower end with a collar I; he a supporting flange 32) and a hold ing washer :34 for mounting the plate 16 therebetween. The driving motor 26 is sup ported h a spider 39 having radially and dcwnwai ly extending arms 40 secured to the inner upper surface of the wall 12, the sha 1 extending downwardly from the moior to a position to support the plate 16, as above described. The entire apparatus sus 'i eudi-id from hangers depending from a ceiling \nd the motor may be further guided and supported by means of horizontal bars -16 extending between the hangers 41-2, the hangers being secured r spectively to the ceiling and to the arms 1-0 of the spiders by bolts and set screws, as shown. The motor is driven by any. suitable electric current supplied through the mains d8, the motor thus serving to drive a fan for creating the forceful and distributing draught of air by means of which the suspended par ticles of mist in the atmosphere are carried outwardly by suspension into the surrounding ai'mosphere and distributed in such a manner to come into intimate contact with the relatively dry atmosphere and thus readily evaporate.

The 50 being mounted above the motor 26 directs the draft of air downwardly towards the top of the plate 16 w ich is es;- posed to the draught. lhis draught of air as it strikes the flat revolving c' backs up somewhat and part of the draught of air is deflected radially, the main course of the air being indicated by the full arrows The draught of air which is deflecfcd towards the outside edge of the apparatus carries the spray, produced at the periphery of the disc, along with itoutwardly into the surrounding atmosphere.

The arms 4-0 of the spider 39 are made wide or flat in a vertical direction so as to oppose the circulating or swirling motion that mi ht be given to the air above the disc and thus avoid the lifting or carrying action that might be given to the iuist thereby. l

i i ater may be supplied to the container 10 in any suitable manner. As illustrated, a supply of water is directed through a pipe 6 1 provided with a hand operated bypass valve 90. A circulation of the water and a constant level in the container are obtained by permitting the excess of water not formed into a mist by the plate 16 to overflow through an overflow pipe 66. In the compartment v of the container 10 a float valve structure is provided consisting of a ball F from which projects a rod 91 1,626,667 I j i7 p3 connectedby suitable joint 92 to a rod 93, which passesthrough-a flexible joint 94 in the wall 12. The" rod is connected to a valve 98 by rods 95 and 96 connected togetherbyavuniversal jointlli'. The float .will thus rise an'diall' with the water in the compartment 70 to close and open the valve 98 at apredetermined water level. A

- valved by-pass pipe 68 may be provided hetweenthe lower part of the container 10 and the overflow pipe- 66' for the purpose oi draining, the container; The water supplied" through the; pipe 64is received in an outer annularcompartment 70 formed in the container 10 by meansof a circular wall 72 and from this compartment is admitted through an opening 74in the wall controlled by means of a plug valve 76 to an inner compartment 78 into which the lower end of the memberld dips. The position of the plug valve 76 relative'to the opening may be controlled 'to regulate, the flow of water into the'compartment 78 by means i of a lever-'80 onf'the lower end of which the plug valve 76 is mounted and Which is r in turn controlled by meansof an operating rod 82 which is moved either manually, by the construction shownfin Fig. a, or automatically by means of a hygros'tat to which it is suitably connected, as by: the construction shown in Figs. 2and 3/ i Referring to Fig. 4, the manual adjustment is obtained by mounting ,the handle 100 on a supporting part 1 01 secured to'the' side wall12 the part IOlbeing provided 82 can thus be drawn back and forth and the valve 76 opened to any predetermined and set extent. i i Referring to Figs. 2, 2'Pand 3, theautomatic control is governed by a hygrostat which consists preferably of a band of fibers200, such as; cotton (Fig. 2) or silk or, hair (Fig; 2*), which aresecured to bridges 201 and, 202. The bridge 201 is pivotally secured to the bracket 220., which is supported upon the hanger 42. The fibers are adjusted into position by means of a thumb screw 203 mounted in the standing" part 206 and connected with the lower bridge 202. A pointer 20 i on the thumb screw 203 runs over a scale205 on the'standing part 206. Thereis also secured to the hanger 42 a projection 207 upon which is pivoted at 208 a bell crank lever 209, having a weight 210 secured at the upper free end, which weightbears' with sometension against the fibers 200 ofthe hygrostat H.

Theshorter arm'21'1oi the bell crank lever 209is' pivoted to a. rod-212 which passes through the wall 12 at 2l3 and secured to an arm of a bell crank" lever 214: pivoted at 215 upon a projection 216 extendingirom the underside of the wall -12, the lower arm' 217 of this bell crank lever being pivoted to the operating rod 82 which controls the movements ofthe valve? 6.

As the moisture in the air surrounding the hygrostat increases the fibers of the element when of cotton or when of silk or.hair (Fig. 2) will lengthen, thus in each case operating toraisc the, rod 212 which n turn draws the rod '82 outwardly to close the valve 76. W hen the moisture decreasesthe valve 76 in each case is similarly opened. In the construc tion'shown in Big. 2 it is desirable to place a spring 218 in the pivot 208 to assist in keeping the weight2l0 of the Dell crank lever209 always in contact with the fibers of the hygrostat. v 1

The adjustment or" the automatic control by means of the construction above described (Fig. 2) will shorten, I

is, effected by turning the head or the screw I in 1 one; direction or the other so that. the

initial setting. of thevalv e 7.6 can be secured.

By providing two adjacent communicate ing tanks of water, into one of which the supply of water initially flows, and from the other of whichvthe water is drawn to form a mist, the operator is enabled by the valve construction thusdescribed to provide sufiicient water toi meet the necessities of the case. That is to say, when the surrounding air is laden with moisture itis obvious that.

the supply of water for forming the mist need only be at its minimum whereas when the air is dry, the supply o'r water should be at its maximum. tained by means of the operation oi" the valve governing the flow of water from one tank to the other. lVit-hout such a construc' tion the supply tank must be kept always at itsmaximuni which would frequently sup ply more'water than is needed to efliectively form the required mist.

By means ofthe. above invention, therefore, water from a regulated-and controlled supplyis drawn upwardly by the inember 14; andthrown centrifugally outwardly against the corrugated surface 22 and broken up into i a fine mistwhich is entrained in and carried in suspension outwardly by a forceful or powerful draught of air created by the propeller 50 into the surrounding atmosphere to evaporate and thus humidify the said an mosphere. The larger particles of water falling onto the wall 12 run back into the container 10, the form of the container providing a very simple, compact apparatus for this purpose i As changes of construction could be made within the scope of our invention, it is in This condition is at- 

